Niagara at night with Cinestill 800T Film

While in Niagara Falls Ontario I had some time in the late evenings to walk around and take a few pictures. I chose to use Cinestill film for this because of its tungsten colour balance and how it reacts to light sources with a certain glow. I also chose to use the Canon QL17 both for its fast 40mm F1.7 lens and that it can be used completely manually. While it does lack slow shutter speeds I wouldn’t have a tripod and these are all hand-held so the 1/4sec slowest shutter speed is leisurely enough.

Cinestill 800 is an interesting film because it is actually motion picture film, specifically Kodak Vision 3 5219 that has had its Remjet layer removed to allow for it to be processed using regular C41 and its then packaged in a 35mm still film cartridge. The effect of pre-removing the Remjet layer is that its antihalation properties are also removed.

What this means is that light can pass through the film and be reflected back striking the emulsion layers a second time which creates halos which are particularly noticable around bright light sources.